Wind Of Change
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: "Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night" "Where the children of tomorrow dream away (dream away) In the wind of change" Maria and Carter had intended on rescuing Ken and then going back to Vice with him... but the second they set foot in San Andreas, things got chaotic in a hurry. (Co-written with GirlGoneGamer)
1. Chapter 1

_**A few days ago…**_

" _Tommy's gonna flip his shit when he finds out that we're gonna find Ken…" 22 year old Maria says as she and Carter sat down in their seats on the plane._

" _What's he gonna do?" Carter asked. "It's not like he's gonna track us down, even though we're in love…" Carter placed a kiss on her forehead._

" _Yeah… I just… I just wonder where Ken's at, mentally. After that call and hearing him scream after Mr. Leone shot him… it just worries me, he wouldn't have reached out if he thought he could handle it." Maria says as she rests her head on Carter's right shoulder._

" _It's worries me too, Maria, but let's hope he's alright." Carter said, placing another kiss on her head._

" _Yeah…" Maria says, the two closing their eyes…_

 **Present time…**

Dry desert air woke Carter up and he groaned as he sat up, sore all over… but there was no sign of Maria, Kent Paul, Maccer or the hippie that they met.

"Ria?!" Carter called out.

"Over here." Maria replied, Carter standing up and running to her, helping her to her feet.

"You okay?" Carter asked.

"Yeah… what the hell happened last night? Where are the others?" Maria asked before they heard it.

"Hello?! Ey, anybody out here?! The Truth sent me!"

"Ey, over here!"

"Well that was Maccer but I don't recognise the other voice…" Maria says as she and Carter made their way down the side of the mountain.

"Stone me bloody crows. Where are we?" Kent says as Maria and Carter helped him up.

"We're at a mountain, what do ya think?" Carter asked.

"Maccer, you fuckin psycho! You did it again, didn't you?" Kent says.

"That Peyote was shite, you were lucky I brought some tabs along!" Maccer says, Maria turning mad.

"You fucking spiked our drinks?!" Maria asked, trying to hit Maccer but Carter stopped her.

"Ria, stop this!" Carter said. "Even though we couldn't remember what happened, I'm sure we had a fuckin' good time."

"He said you did. I'm CJ, Truth said you guys were stranded out here." CJ says, Kent looking at him.

"Yeah, we need a ride back to Caligula's Casino. Our friend Rosenberg works there." Kent says before all five got into the stolen LVPD car.

"What I'm not sure I want to know is how these…" CJ says, finding a pair of red satin and lace panties wedged in between the front seats. "Ended up here."

Maria's face turned a light red as she readjusted her red shorts, Carter pulling her into his arms.

"We stole a cop car and fucked in it…" Maria says quietly.

"Yeah, best time of my life…" Carter said. "You were so freaky last night, baby."

"That explains the handcuffs, Carter…" Kent says before he turned a little pale. "Pull over, now!"

Kent bolted out of the car, vomiting on the sand.

"For one with a tolerance to this, he's not handling it well." Maccer says as Kent got back into the car and Maria noticed a snake bite on Kent's arm.

"Snakes… lots of snakes…" Maria says, Carter seeing a snake farm in the distance.

"Yeah, stay clear from them…" Carter said.

"The owner might have answers though…" CJ says, pulling over and all five getting out.

"Take a gander at them fellas, is that em?!" The older man exclaimed before one pointed to Kent, accusing him of screwing one of the hogs.

"Those two nearly destroyed the shack with how crazy they were!" Another ranch hand yelled, pointing to Carter and Maria.

"All we did is have sex…" Carter said, Maria playfully hitting him on his left arm.

"We need answers as to what else happened!" Maria says before seeing another couple. The woman ended up yelling about slapping Maccer silly.

"What in tarnation?! I'm fixin to give you a whoopin for what you've gone and done to my younguns!" The older man yelled before shooting at them, CJ, Maria and Carter firing back.

"Oh no, run like fuck!" Kent says.

"Everybody in the car!" CJ yells, everyone getting in and speeding off.

"Damn, y'all did go a bit too crazy last night… where's the rest of the band?" CJ says.

"Fuck if we can remember… never trust anyone who's been around since the peace and love era." Kent says, Carter nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, that was a hard time for me and my friend." Carter said.

"I barely remember seeing people protesting on Staunton Island back in the 70s…" Maria says.

"Oh really, baby?" Carter said.

"My aunt used to try to help out… most of them were transients who had been kicked out but I saw a few displaced soldiers as well." Maria says as the car stopped outside the casino.

The group got out and reached Ken's office… when he first saw Maria, he pulled her into a hug.

"Carter, ain't she been eating enough? Poor girl's all skin and bones." Ken says after he and Maria let go.

"Yeah, I make sure she's eating, beside we just got here and… something else happen." Carter said.

"We all got drugged and ended up in the desert… I think it was Arco Del Oeste." Kent says.

Maria looked outside the window and saw another cop car… but she reeled back when she saw Frank Tenpenny in the driver's seat, Carter seeing the look in her eyes… Maria had told him about how Frank used her as a punching bag, Carter wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her up.

"Let's get away from the window…" Carter whispered, narrowing his eyes at him.

The two walked to the couch and sat down, Maria taking deep breaths as Carter rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I thought I had killed him… when he didn't wake up." Maria says. The night she had left Liberty City, she had pushed Frank down the stairs after he had slashed her back and tried to snap her neck.

"Baby, you're safe with me." Carter said, pulling her close to him. "You need a distraction?"

Maria nodded, the two heading out of the room.

Once they were out in the dry air, Maria closed her eyes as the light rain hit her face and took a deep breath as she and Carter held hands.

"It's much less humid out here on this side of the country…" Maria says after her eyes opened.

"Yeah, I really miss the sun and the others stuff as well. Being here, makes me feel like a stranger to the weather." Carter said.

"Better than being trapped in snow that one time we went up to Canada." Maria says as they kissed.

When they returned, cleaned off and in clean clothes, the two ran into CJ.

"Oh hey, you two… look, Ken doesn't know about what's being planned." CJ says, Maria and Carter looking at each other.

"A heist…" They said before looking at CJ.

"Yeah, gonna take the money in the vault here. You two want in?" CJ says.

"I'm in." Carter said, before looking at Maria.

"Hell yeah. Let's take the casino for all its worth." Maria says.


	2. Chapter 2

_**1/31/84, Liberty City…**_

" _You think you can break me like you broke my sweet mother… do you, Frank?" Maria responded after she stood up, Frank Tenpenny's eyes wide with shock._

" _Why haven't you died like your old man did?!" Frank growled._

" _Because I swore that since you came into my life like the monster you are… that the only way I'd die is if I took you with me!" Maria said, shouting after grabbing Tommy's old baseball bat and whacking Frank with it repeatedly._

 _The fight spilled into the hallway with both having lost their weapons… Maria took her chance and with her losing blood fast, she knocked Frank into the wall and then shoved him again, watching as he tumbled down the stairs._

 _He didn't move after losing consciousness… and she grabbed her things and left._

 _The 14 year old reached the bus station and used a fake ID listing her as Rebecca Mendez and her age as 18… with the heavy makeup on, the ticket taker bought it and Maria was on her way out of the area._

' _Well… on my way to a new life. Wherever it is.' Maria thought as she settled into a seat, the bus driver leaving once everyone was on the bus._

 _She really didn't want to leave without Tommy… but she knew he'd understand once she was able to get in touch with him._

 _Maria had been asleep for most of the trip when Carter and Michael got onto the bus._

" _Damn, I can't wait til we hit Vice City. Two weeks of paradise." Michael said excitedly._

" _Yeah, I can't wait to get drunk and see the hot chicks around the city." Carter said. "Maybe I'll be lucky to bring one of them home with me."_

" _Never know, old pal." Michael responded, the 16 year old sitting in one seat while 14 year old Carter sat in the one next to Maria, whose face was half hidden by the hood of her jacket._

" _Hey, why you so shy?" Carter asked._

 _Maria opened her eyes after hearing that… and that was at the moment that the bus swerved to avoid a pothole, Maria grunting in pain as her back hit the armrest, Carter steadying her._

" _You okay?" Carter asked, once again._

" _Yeah… just a rough trip, been several stops so far. Going to visit family in Vice." Maria responded._

" _Hey, that's where me and my friend are going to." Carter said._

" _Hopefully the weather's nicer… I'm so sick of snow." Maria replied, Carter picking up a fallen ID card and seeing Maria's picture but next to the name Rebecca Mendez._

" _Your name's Rebecca?" Carter asked._

" _Yeah. Named after my grandmother." Maria said after Carter handed her the ID._

" _Well, I'm Carter Grant, it's nice to talk with you." He said._

" _Nice to talk to you." Maria responded as they shook hands…_

 **Present time...**

Afternoon soon turned into evening as Carter, Maria, CJ and Woozie were discussing the plan.

"If we can find two croupier uniforms, this should work… Carter, do you know any others who can get out here?" Woozie asked. Carter was about to suggest Michael and Brad but knew that Trevor would force them to bring him along.

"I know some people who can help, but there's a slight problem." Carter answered.

"Crazy crew member?" CJ questioned.

"Yeah…" Carter said.

"We can work around that. Maria, anyone you know?" Woozie responded.

"A safecracker but… he got arrested after trying to rob the gun stores in Vice." Maria answered. "Wait… I got another idea, someone I used to know up north." She said before she, CJ and Carter left.

Their first stop was to pick Ken up and Ken was ranting.

"So now I spend my days waiting for one family to cap me and blame the other one! My only friend is a bird named Tony!" Ken said, finishing his rant.

"I never fucked anyone over in my life who didn't have it coming to them!" Tony exclaimed before Ken explained how Johnny Sindacco was under threat from the Forelli family and in a shock induced state at the hospital across town.

"Damn it, Marco's probably dispatched hitmen to go kill him!" Maria said.

"We gonna stop them." Carter said.

' _So here I am with two people I've only met earlier, trying to rescue a guy I scared half to death! If he wakes up through all of this, I'm screwed!'_ CJ thought before the trio drove to the hospital.

"Hi, we're here to pick up Mr. Sindacco." CJ explained to the young nurse.

"Mr. Sindacco? There must be some mistake. An ambulance just picked him up." The nurse responded, the three nodding before leaving in a Patriot.

The three were on the road, tailing an ambulance with CJ in the driver's seat and Maria and Carter in the back, CJ ramming the ambulance repeatedly until it stopped.

"Alright, who's messing with Forelli business?!" One of the hitmen shouted after stopping the ambulance, jumping out at the same time that CJ, Maria and Carter got out.

"Yeah, who's got a death wish?!" The second hitman demanded.

"Give him up or you're gonna be chained to cinder blocks and tossed in the ocean!" Maria shouted, her Uzi aimed at them.

"Let's kill them, baby!" Carter said, pulling out his Uzi.

The hitmen charged at them and were shot dead, the trio getting in the ambulance and Maria in the back as CJ drove with Carter in the passenger seat… Johnny reached out, gripping Maria's hand.

"Is that you, kiddo? You're all grown up." Johnny said quietly.

"It's me, pal. You're gonna be okay…" Maria whispered.

Johnny was at the safehouse and Maria left with Carter and CJ.

"If he saw me, I would've been screwed…" CJ muttered, the two putting it together as Paulie had done the same thing to Kent back in 1990 when a deal went bad.

The three reached the casino by the time it was dark after Maria and Carter decided to go get dressed up and explore the city.

"Hey, you wore that on our fifth date." Carter said with a smile when he noticed Maria's plum dress that wrapped around before the two kissed.

"You could never take your eyes off me when I'm wearing it, Carter Grant." Maria whispered, brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

They intended on making tonight a fun night for them.

 **2 ½ weeks later, Maria's Perspective…**

"We all good?" CJ asked as we set everything up.

"Yep, we'll be waiting on your signal." Carter responded before he and I kissed… I don't know what it is, maybe it's just nerves throwing me off but I'm not feeling like I usually do and my lower back feels like it's being jabbed with a pen.

"You stick close and keep that armor on, girl. Carter would kill me if something happened to you." CJ said before we walked into the casino.

Well… time for a score.


End file.
